Intentions to Marry, 1922 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840509, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1922f contains pages 2059-2580, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2221

District of Nelson Quarter ending 30 September 1922 Registrar S. Tyson

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

24 August 1922

Henry Barrett St John
Marguerite Chapman McGruer

Henry Barrett St John
Margarete Chapman McGruer
💍 1922/8014

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Hives

25
24

Nelson
Nelson

10 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

22/6703

24 August 1922

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	24 August 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Barrett St John	Marguerite Chapman McGruer
BDM Match (94%)	Henry Barrett St John	Margarete Chapman McGruer
	💍 1922/8014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Hives
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	22/6703
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

30 August 1922

Edward Carl Russ
Frances Helen Hooper

Edward Carl Russ
Frances Helen Hooper
💍 1922/8015

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Office Clerk

36
34

Appleby
Nelson

36 years
2 years

Dwelling of James Hooper, Milton Street, Nelson

22/6704

30 August 1922

Rev. J. R. Dart, Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	30 August 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Carl Russ	Frances Helen Hooper
	💍 1922/8015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Office Clerk
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Appleby	Nelson
Length of Residence	36 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of James Hooper, Milton Street, Nelson
Folio	22/6704
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Dart, Church of England

31 August 1922

Matthew Hawthorne
Alice Mary Mathews

Matthew Hawthorne
Alice Mary Mathews
💍 1922/8016

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
35

Nelson
Nelson

16 years
20 years

St. Marys Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

22/6705

31 August 1922

Rev. D. H. Campbell, Roman Catholic

No	60
Date of Notice	31 August 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Hawthorne	Alice Mary Mathews
	💍 1922/8016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	35
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	22/6705
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Campbell, Roman Catholic

4 September 1922

Ronald Richard Martin
Annie Louisa Annear

Ronald Richard Martin
Annie Louisa Annear
💍 1922/8017

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Dressmaker

25
27

Nelson
Nelson

4 days
14 years

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

22/6706

4 September 1922

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	61
Date of Notice	4 September 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Richard Martin	Annie Louisa Annear
	💍 1922/8017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	4 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	22/6706
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

8 September 1922

Henry Jonathan Lewis
Minnie Florence Elliott

Henry Jonathan Lewis
Minnie Florence Elliott
💍 1922/8018

Widower 22-8-1920
Spinster

Retired surveyor
Domestic duties

74
54

Tahunanui
Nelson

2 months
10 years

Dwelling of Joseph Day, Mount Pleasant, Nelson

22/6707

8 September 1922

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	62
Date of Notice	8 September 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Jonathan Lewis	Minnie Florence Elliott
	💍 1922/8018
Condition	Widower 22-8-1920	Spinster
Profession	Retired surveyor	Domestic duties
Age	74	54
Dwelling Place	Tahunanui	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Joseph Day, Mount Pleasant, Nelson
Folio	22/6707
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).